Blog - Schilly Science

Cell Phones in the Classroom … The Best $30 I have ever spent as a teacher.

November 16, 2018

If you’re a teacher, you’ve probably had to tell your students to put their phones away once or twice (or a million times). As technology and social media have increased, so has our students’ need to have their phones on them at ALL TIMES. While there are times when phones are necessary as part of our classrooms, for the most part they are a huge distraction to our students. Even when it’s out of sight in their pockets, it is near impossible for them to ignore a notification when they feel it vibrate. Even if they do manage to ignore it, the very thought of who might have texted them removes their focus from whatever they were doing. I would venture to say that at least 75% of the discipline issues in my classroom last year revolved around cell phones.

I have always felt like fighting cell phones in my classroom was a losing battle…until this year. I don’t get paid to argue with children who refuse to hand over their device or constantly try to pull one over on me, so I implemented a new policy in my classroom and the results have been nothing short of amazing.

I spent less than $30 and purchased one of these drawer organizers and two of these charger hubs to create a “CELL PHONE ZONE” that my students have to drop their phones into as they walk in the door. I started this on day 1 and made a big deal about the fact they could connect their charger to the hubs and they could still see their phones, which they reportedly appreciate.

My students know that if I see their phones in my room past the cell phone zone, then I keep them until the end of the day. I’ve had to make an example of that one time before they realized I was serious and I haven’t had a problem since.

After the first few weeks of school, I created a Google Form survey on which I asked how my students felt about different aspects of our classroom. Over 65% claimed that they “felt more focused because their phones were not on them in class”, while only 10% stated that they think the cell phone zone is “dumb because they are in high school and should be able to use their phones when they want.”

There are rare and special times that I will allow students to keep their phones with them in the event that we need to use them for an app or if we are doing a science lab, they are allowed to take pictures to post on social media. They know that if they take advantage and I find them texting or snapping or anything else inappropriate, then their phone is mine.

We are now close to halfway through our school year and I can absolutely say that, after 17 years of teaching middle and high school students, this was the best $30 I’ve ever spent for my classroom.

Do you have other tried and true ideas for managing cell phones in your classroom? Post below in the comments!

Yes, that plunger is my bathroom pass. 😉

Forensic Science in the High School Classroom

August 23, 2018

During the summer before the 2016-2017 school year, I moved to a new state, got a job at a new school, and found myself about to teach three VERY DIFFERENT classes that I had never taught before. One of those classes was Forensics. Cool, right? Heck yeah, it’s cool. It’s REALLY COOL…. but here I was in a strange school in a strange state with a strange class, no standards, and no curriculum. I mean, there was a box and a folder full of “random stuff you can do in a forensics class” left by the previous teacher who had asked for the class to be offered, ordered a few arbitrary supplies, and then left without ever teaching it. I had one copy of some textbook for reference, but as an elective science class in a school with zero extra money, I was pretty much on my own to create a curriculum, figure out what/how to teach it with limited resources, and make it interesting enough for students to want to take the following year.

Forensics quickly became my all time favorite class to teach… EVER! I wish I could teach it all day long. There is so much that you can do and the kids absolutely love it. Once I got into the swing of things, the class totally rocked. Students all over the school would poke their heads in to see what we were up to…. to see why there was crime scene tape all over the front office or where all that “blood” came from.

Speaking of blood, I had no idea that synthetic blood was so expensive!!! I wanted to do a lab where students could simulate blood spatter patterns and analyze different blood types. I wanted them to use this information to solve a crime. I did some research and found a really easy way to simulate different blood types. With a little bit of work on the front end, I was able to create an amazing, multi-day activity where my students had to read about the murder of a teacher and use evidence from a variety of activities to solve that murder.

There is so much that can go into teaching this course and so many opportunities for interdisciplinary learning. Our school also offers a social studies course in criminal justice and I look forward to collaborating with that teacher next year. If you are a high school science teacher and you have the opportunity to teach forensics or if your school is looking for a a great elective class, I highly recommend it.

Teaching Genetics…. and the day I found out my students were way smarter than me.

February 28, 2018

Before I started teaching high school, I taught middle school science for 14 years and my absolute favorite topic to teach students is genetics. The “a-ha” moments when they learn about Punnett Squares, the ability to connect to their own lives, and the amount of creativity that I can add to my classroom add to my excitement about teaching genetics. For years, I utilized the tried and true resources like “Spongebob Genetics” and “Simpsons Genetics” worksheets that can be found all over the internet. They’re amazing and the kids love them because they love all of those silly characters…. but then one day, I was grading one of those worksheets and a student who was never the best worker/reader got 100% I was excited for him… but as I was reading his answers, I realized that they were the EXACT answers on the answer key, which is easily found online. I browsed through the rest of his classmates papers and found at least 5 more with the exact, same answers.

That was the day I realized that my kids were way more advanced on “using their resources” than I had given them credit for. Last year, I gave said Spongebob worksheet to my high school biology students as a review and told them that they could use their 1-to-1 devices to check their steps, as I’d posted our classroom slideshows in Google Classroom. As I circulated, I noticed that some students hurriedly minimized their windows with a sheepish look on their faces. I snagged one of their Chromebooks, opened up the page to see the answer key that they had Googled. Nice! I guess Spongebob and Homer Simpson have seen the last of my classroom and it was time to make some new resources. Kids are so adept at using technology and are usually one step ahead of us teachers.

The holidays were coming up, so I created some holiday themed worksheets to use as a mini review/ assessment for my students. They loved them [almost] as much as Spongebob, but I had the luxury of knowing that there would be no way for them to look up the answers.